Know thyself
The words written on the wall of the temple of Apollo at Delphi. The other side reads “Nothing in excess”. Both fit in some sense I suppose but the former interests me more. I’m in agreement with many of the Greek catchphrases, if one chooses to call them that; the two listed here as well as “The unexamined life is not worth living” and so on. They’re kind of like good, old-fashioned, down-south, back-home wisdoms that don’t seem to need explanation. Many may argue but I would say by the age of 18 one would have to agree they hold some degree of truth.
So on then to my point. One of my personal maxims is: knowing the truth is better than believing it. One can believe that something is true and that is good but knowing that it is true through discovery is better in my opinion. The way I see it is that there are truths learned along the journey of discovery that add to the sum. The opposite though, believing in truth, does not provide any of the extras, it’s a meaningless kind of thing as it has relation to the other truths or aspects of one’s life.
The dilemma (you knew it was coming) is that I can’t always arrive at truth through experience. What is one to do in such cases? Is there a method to discern between what needs to be experienced and what doesn’t, assuming there is some objective? Moral issues for instance are often matters of belief not experience, things such as abortion. (Thankfully that doens’t apply to me as it would a female but for a serious relationship I’m sure it’s a horrendous issue to discuss).
Those that know my two principles of truth and sustainability know that this issue is crucial as it directly affects one of my two foundational building blocks.